Spil Dağı
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Mount Spil ( tr, Spil Dağı), the ancient Mount Sipylus ( grc, Σίπυλος) (elevation ), is a mountain rich in legends and history in Manisa Province, Turkey, in what used to be the heartland of the Lydians and what is now Turkey's
Aegean Region The Aegean Region () is one of the 7 Geographical regions of Turkey, geographical regions of Turkey. The largest city in the region is İzmir. Other big cities are Manisa, Aydın, Denizli, Muğla, Afyonkarahisar and Kütahya. Located in w ...
. Its summit towers over the modern city of Manisa as well as over the road between İzmir and Manisa. The contiguous mass of Mount
Yamanlar Mount Yamanlar ( tr, Yamanlar Dağı) is a mountain in İzmir, Turkey, located within the boundaries of the Greater Metropolitan Area of the city. Easily accessible from Izmir, Yamanlar is a popular excursion spot for the inhabitants of the cit ...
, also overlooking the Gulf of İzmir, has often been considered an extension of the Mount Sipylus massif, with which it shares much history, although it is actually an extinct volcano and a distinct geographical formation.


History

The
Manisa relief The Manisa relief, also known as the Akpınar relief and the Cybele relief ( (Cliff image) or Sipil Heykeli (Sipylos Monument)), is a Hittite rock relief at Akpınar, about 5 km east of the Turkish provincial capital of Manisa above an amusement ...
, a full-faced statue carved into a cliff face, is found near Mount Sipylus, several kilometers east of Manisa. It is traditionally identified as Cybele and dated to the late Hittite or Luwian period in late second millennium BCE. The sculpture is known as ''Taş Suret'' in Turkish (meaning "Stone Figure") and sometimes also referred to as such in international literature. The mountain was considered a favorite haunt of the mother goddess. According to an old myth, the sculpture was carved by
Broteas In Greek mythology, Broteas (Ancient Greek: Βροτέας), a hunter, was the son of Tantalus (by Dione, Euryanassa or Eurythemista), whose other offspring were Niobe and Pelops. Broteas was also one of the Lapiths, killed at the battle of the La ...
, Tantalus' ugly son. According to the Byzantine commentator John the Lydian, the unknown author of the 7th-century BCE epic poem, the ''Titanomachy'', placed the birth of Zeus not in Crete but in
Lydia Lydia (Lydian language, Lydian: ‎𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the mod ...
, which should signify Mount Sipylus. The names "Sipylus" or "Sipylum" are mentioned by Pliny the Elder, supported by other sources, as the site of a very celebrated city called "Tantalis" or "the city of Tantalus", after the name of its founder. Presumably located on or very near the mountain, the city's ruins were reportedly still visible around the beginning of the Common Era. The same Tantalus is famed throughout Greek mythology thanks to the accounts that he had cut up his son Pelops and served him up as food for the gods. His son Pelops is said to have later migrated to the
Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...
, named after him, and to have founded a kingdom there. Tantalus' daughter was the tragic Niobe, who is associated with the "Weeping Rock" (''Ağlayan Kaya'' in
Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...
), a natural formation facing the city of Manisa. The Greek deities Apollo and Artemis were said to have killed all 14 children of Niobe at Mount Sipylus, whereupon the grief-stricken Niobe was turned to stone. Later in ancient times, Mount Sipylus ( grc, Σίπυλος) rose above the site of Magnesia ad Sipylum (the southern portion of modern Manisa), whose existence is traced back as far as the 5th century BCE. Magnesia was located along the Hermus River ( Gediz River) on the plain below and was the scene of the defeat of Antiochus III "the Great" by the Romans at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BCE. The city of Smyrna lay nearby.


Spil today

An important reforestation effort was begun in the 1960s, covering thousands of hectares on and around the mountain. Since then, Spil Dağı National Park has attracted many foreign and domestic tourists. The famous "Weeping Rock" is still widely visited. The mountain as a whole presents an area of dense forests and is known for its wild
tulips Tulips (''Tulipa'') are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes (having bulbs as storage organs). The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly coloured, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm ...
. The mountain is also a common spot for camping,
parachuting Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes. For ...
, hiking and other mountain sports. The motorway connecting the two regional metropolitan centers, İzmir and Manisa, crosses between the two neighboring masses of Mount Sipylus and Mount Yamanlar through the Sabuncubeli Pass, which was much described by ancient travellers and writers and which descends from an altitude of 600 m to sea-level in only a few kilometers. The highest point of the pass corresponds to a point near the boundary between İzmir Province and Manisa Province. To bypass the steep and twisted Sabuncubeli Pass, the -long Sabuncubeli Tunnel was built from 2011 to 2018.


Footnotes


References

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External links

* * {{Authority control Ancient Greek geography Spil National parks of Turkey Landforms of Manisa Province Landforms of İzmir Province Tourist attractions in Manisa Province Tourist attractions in İzmir Province